Business had been around successfully since the beginning of time; but the tracking of a business became more complex as the business got larger (5 Definitions of the Enterprise by Miko Matsumura). The first computer systems were generally custom built applications that automated the capture of information so that business could get its first consolidated view of performance. The primary architecture of these first generation, E0.1 systems, was Mainframe.

E0.1 provided standardized glimpses of business in a consolidated view. Their value proved helpful and with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and other audits confidence grew that business was being managed. These systems were quite inflexible, incomplete, expensive and time consuming to build.

The strength of these systems, when completed, was a custom application that addressed specifically a company’s unique needs: culturally, procedurally, market approach, value propositions, etc. For the generations of business before E0.1 arrived, each business was unique. E0.1 did not violate this principle and tended to be implemented at the larger scale companies that not only had the funding to achieve the goal but also the numerical/quantitative drive to achieve it. The constraints of the technology used to develop these applications put in place the first indicators of data rigidity and process. Processes were developed based upon the data and data sets were the basis for computing. This rigidity is perpetuated in the next generation of Enterprise systems.

The alternative for Enterprises at the time was to keep doing virtually everything manually and keep the coal fired in the counting offices. The scope and complexity of any company and everything that it “does” to be that company, require a linear relationship between the doers and the tracking. Throw in a couple of governmental regulations that require administration and the linear relationship becomes quite top heavy; scale is unachievable.

It is safe to say that there are no enterprises that run their business without the aid of information systems today. Consumer level applications suffice to a considerable size company and you’d struggle to find general ledger books anymore in which to record your sales, purchases, salaries, etc. Many E0.1 systems are still running major corporations and government entities. They have continued to be developed, their control has expanded and the tools used to build them have changed. However, they are fundamentally the same custom system that fits their business like a glove.